Canada Post’s editorial cartoonists series concludes today as the Crown corporation unveils the fifth and final stamp honouring Bruce MacKinnon, of Halifax’s Chronicle Herald.
Considered one of the country’s “most thoughtful, talented and respected editorial cartoonists” according to Canada Post, MacKinnon had his first editorial cartoon published in his hometown weekly paper in Antigonish, N.S., when he was just 14. After he drew weekly cartoons for the Herald, the paper hired him full time in 1986. Since then, he has drawn roughly 8,000 cartoons, but it is their quality that has won him numerous accolades.
His deeply touching tribute to a reservist killed at the National War Memorial in 2014 was shared around the country and the world. Four years later, his cartoon following the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash also reflected the gravity of the situation in a way he called “subtle and nuanced.”
His colourful Broncos-themed design is featured on the stamp.
MacKinnon has won 21 Atlantic Journalism Awards, six National Newspaper Awards for editorial cartooning (and a seventh, the inaugural Journalist of the Year Award) and the World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition. The citation for his appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2016 describes him as “one of Canada’s most skilled, empathetic and provocative editorial cartoonists.”
The editorial cartoonist stamps and collectibles are available via canadapost.ca and postal outlets across Canada starting today.
LIVE PANEL WITH ARTISTS TODAY AT 11 A.M. (ET)
A live panel discussion with the cartoonists and Ian Macpherson, Duncan’s son, will be held online today at 11 a.m. (ET). Register for the webcast here.
FIVE-STAMP SET
Canada Post began unveiling the five-stamp set on Oct. 4 with an issue celebrating Serge Chapleau, the editorial cartoonist at La Presse.
The second stamp, featuring award-winning Globe and Mail editorial cartoonist Brian Gable, was unveiled on Oct. 5 with the third issue, honouring Terry Mosher, a long-time Montréal Gazette cartoonist, coming the following day.
Yesterday’s issue commemorated the late Duncan Macpherson, an editorial cartoonist for the Toronto Star for more than three decades.
View each of the stamps in the gallery below.
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- The first stamp of Canada Post’s ‘Editorial Cartoonists’ series features Serge Chapleau’s 1995 Québec referendum cartoon.
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- Brian Gable’s Canada Day cartoon graces the second stamp of Canada Post’s ‘Editorial Cartoonists’ series.
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- Canada Post honoured Terry Mosher, known by his nom de plume ‘Aislin,’ on the third ‘Editorial Cartoonists’ stamp.
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- The fourth stamp of ‘Editorial Cartoonists’ series honours late artist Duncan Macpherson, who died in 1993.
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- Bruce MacKinnon’s editorial cartoon, published following the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash, closes out the ‘Editorial Cartoonists’ series as the fifth and final stamp.
COMING UP NEXT…
Canada Post’s next issue is a Diwali stamp slated for Oct. 19 followed by the Crown corporation’s final commemorative envelope of the year, honouring the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery sesquicentennial, on Oct. 20.
A Valour Road issue, honouring the iconic three-kilometre street in Winnipeg’s West End, will be out on Oct. 21 while a poppy stamp is due the following week on Oct. 29.
Looking ahead to November, Canada Post’s final issues of the year include:
- four holiday releases featuring a Christmas angel, a reindeer, an elf and a general holiday theme;
- a Hanukkah issue on Nov. 8;
- one of the postponed September issues, teased as having “universal appeal,” on Nov. 19; and
- the final postponed September issue, teased as a “novel topic,” on Nov. 25.